02/08/2021
2021 Anchorage Market update****
We have been receiving many inquiries about the 2021 Anchorage Market.
For those of you that do not know much about our market or ourselves; I want to start off by introducing the owners of your Anchorage Market. My name is Mike and together with my significant other, Michelle, we own, manage, and operate the Anchorage Market in downtown Anchorage – more commonly known to Alaskan’s as the “Saturday” or “weekend” market. The goal of our Market is and has always been to help small businesses in Alaska grow. With 2000+ vendors over the past 28 years, we have seen many success stories with businesses that are still in operation all over Alaska. Our market along with the vendors we work with contribute to over 1,000 full time, part time and seasonal jobs each and every year.
It is with a very heavy heart that we must make you aware that this season and our market cannot continue in size or in the same location where it has been for the past 28 years. Due to the impacts of COVID19, local mandates, a lack of visitors and the very large financial burden that it takes to operate such a market, we cannot remain in the same downtown location. To put this into a financial perspective, we must earn a minimum of $199,000 just to pay rent for the parking lot and the business we utilize for 36 days. This is a huge burden for a small business ran such as ours. These funds come directly from vendor participation and fees as well as sponsorship donations from our executive sponsors Coca-Cola of Alaska, Alaska Waste & Rent-A-Can. Because we believe in free to attend events, we do not collect admission fees or parking fees from customers looking to spend a few bucks with a local vendor at our market.
As of today, 2/8/2020 our landlord ACDA/Easy Park and ourselves have agreed to terminate our financially burdensome lease. We are working very aggressively on securing a new, more affordable location for our Market in Anchorage, Eagle River or the Valley.
If you have a location available with ample parking, we would love to hear about it!
Once we have secured a more affordable location, we will notify you very promptly!
We have done everything within our capabilities to keep our Market open for you to enjoy and for our vendors partners to earn an income. We have sold nearly all of our business and personal assets to include our home. But the financial impacts brought on by COVID19 are not showing any signs of slowing.
We ask that if you can, share this story or stories like ours to help a small business, even if you only help one business – that is a fellow Alaskan that may be able to keep their doors open.
